Sunday, August 30, 2009

Twist and Shout

My name is Avery and I'm addicted to Princeton's newest fro-yo experience.

I am imagining all of you saying Hi Avery! in unison like they do at NA meetings.

I don't know if we have a Pinkberry anywhere around here. I had some a little over two years ago in San Fran. I had no idea that I was participating in what has become a huge food trend. Frozen yogurt is experiencing a renaissance of sorts and I am pretty excited about it! It's definitely giving cupcakes some healthy competition! When I was a teenager in Huntsville, Alabama, my family used to drive over to this frozen yogurt place up the road at least once a week. I remember having a fondness for the strawberry flavor in a waffle cone. There was also a TCBY in the shopping center where my friends and I used to hang out and it was pretty popular. I used to date a guy who would take me there on a regular basis. We would share a banana split and take turns picking flavors and toppings. I'll never forget because one time he opted to put NERDS on top of chocolate frozen yogurt and it was absolutely disgusting.

I didn't even realize it when it was happening but frozen yogurt did eventually slip off of the radar. I blame Ben and Jerry for reminding us what we were missing. Ice cream got a lot more interesting in the past decade. Cool and creamy decadence that goes as far as to taste of birthday cake is merely a cold stone's throw away!

As they say, eventually what is old is new again and frozen yogurt is back in the game! Someone got smart and decided to bring it to Princeton and they have been massively successful. I've been several times in the past month! Twist is the name and they're coming on strong! The flavors are bolder and the options are endless. The atmosphere is bright, comfy and perfect for chilling out with some good friends on a hot day! I went with the usual suspects last week and we all had fun customizing our own fro-yo creations.

They try to keep it fresh by rotating flavors on a weekly basis. Some of the choices I've seen going in and out are green tea, mango, cookies and cream, cheesecake and even cake batter. They do have some staples such as vanilla, Ghirardelli chocolate (my fave!) and eurotart. The later has only 18 calories per ounce. It basically tastes like plain yogurt. They usually have about six flavors on tap. Once you move over to the toppings, it gets a little more interesting!

They have everything from fruit, nuts, flax seeds and Kashi cereal. If you want to be bad, they have a variety of crushed cookies and candies along with caramel, marshmallow and chocolate sauces. Here is the part where I remind you to watch your weight.... At Twist, you pay according to how much your fro-yo weighs so I try to keep it simple. A smaller cup of yogurt and some strawberries runs me around $4 and some change. It's usually enough for Molly and I to share.

It's a hot spot in the community right now. They lend their wall space to local artists and the owners even have doggie biscuits out in memory of their beloved pet that passed last year. Chowder appreciates the gesture and so do I. Another bonus is that they are open until 11. I am sure this must be a seasonal thing but it's nice! Sometimes it's late by the time we're done with dinner. I heard that there is another frozen yogurt place that will be opening up a few blocks away so we'll see how that turns out. They're really going to have to come out swinging if they want a piece of this pie.